Adding machine



H.MEREDHT%JONES June l2, 1923.

ADDING MACHINE 'Filed May 5, 1916 3 Sheets-Sheet l June 12, 1923.

1,458,14l H. MEREDITH-JONES ADDING MACHINE Filed May 5, 1916 ulnummlilmm June 12, 1923. z 1,458,141

H. MEREDITH-JONES ADDING MACHINE Filed May 5, 1916 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 H ||I W' Patented June 12, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUBERT MEREDITH-JONES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALE' TO ARTHUR i CAVERNO, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ADDING MACHINE.

Application filed May 5, 1916i To call whom it may cancer-a:

Be itknown that I, Hmmm' MEREDITH- JONES, of New York, in the county of .New York and in the State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful mprovcment in Adding Machines, and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates particularly to machines adapted for adding figures for any desired purpose, it being applicable not only to the adding of amounts of money. but quantities of any other Character.

The object of my invention is to provide an adding machine of great simplicity and which will, nevertheless. have all of the desired functions, but which has in adcition many advantages over previous adding` machines. A further object of my invention is to provide an adding machine which is capable of being used for column addinq', as well as progressive adding without the necessi'ty of Operating levers in changing from one number to another in progressive adding. A further object is to provide an advantageous apparatus for Operating` the countingl wheels. A further object is to provide an advantageous and simple means for transferring the movement of the counting keys to the counting` wheels. Furtlier objects of my invention will appear from a consideration of the detailed description of the same appearing hereinafter.

lVhile my invention is capable of embodiment in many different forms, for the purpose of illustration I shall only show one form thereof in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an adding,r machine made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a, side elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the same;

Fig. 4 is a similar view, showing the machine Operating' for progressive adding;

Fig. 5 is a similar view, showing some of the parts removed; and

Fig. 6 is a section of a detail.

In the drawings I have shown an adding machineibase 1, having` a cover 2, provided with a window 3 through which the numbers registered bv the adding' machine may be observed. On `the base 1, there is provided a transverse shaft 11, carrying a plu- Serial No. 95,527.

rality of numeral levers 5, having fingeroperated keys 6 at their forward ends. These keys 5 are arranged in such a manner as to provide a row 7 giving the odd numbers and a separate row 8 in advance thereof giving the even numbers. At the forward end of each of the keys 7 there is a lower stop 9 which limits the downward movement thereof, and a further stop 10 which co-operates with a stop plate 11 connected by screws 12 to the frame 1 so as to limit the upward movement thereof. Each of the levers 6 is provided at its forward end with a cam 18 which comprises an inclined surface 141 and a vertical surface 15. The cam 13 is arranped to co-operate with a lever 16 supported upon a. pivot 17 located on the frame 1, a spring` 17a being provided around the pivot 17 to normally move the lever 16 towards the front of the machine. Inasmuch as the various kevs 7 and S are located at varying` distances from the pivot 17, it will be noted that they will, by their movement, convey to the vlever 16 varying degrees of movement. At the other end of the lever 16 there is pivotallv connected to said lever a link 18 which i'n turn is pivotally connected to a sliding bar 19 carrying' a rack 20, and arranged to slide in guideways 21 attached to the frame 1. Meshing with the rack 20 there is a gear 22 loosely carried by an intermediate shaft 23, having' a collar 24 on its end beyond said ,gear 22. On the other side of the gear 22 the shaft 23 has fixedly secured thereto a disc. 25, which has a spring-pressed pawl 26 Fig. 5 meshing with said gear 22, the purpose of said pawl being to transmit the forward movement of the sliding' plate 19 to the shaft 23, butto prevent kthe transmission of the movement of said plate 19 in a. reverse direction. The shaft 28 is supported at one end in a bearing' 26a carried by the frame 1, and at the other end in a bearing' 27 carried by one of the guides 21. Said shaft 23, furthermore.` carries a plurality of zgears 27a, each of which is connected to a. spacing' drum 28 in any suitable manner. One of these gears 27 is provided for each of the columns of figures to be ntilized. These gears 27 are arranged so as to mesh with corresponding` idler gears 29 carried on stud shafts 30, which are located on a plurality of column levers 31 having keys 33, one of which is provided for each of the columns to be utilized. ."l spring 84s is provided for eaclrof the column levers 31 so as to normally maintain the oorresponding` lcey in an elevated position. At their rear ends each of these column levers 31 vis provided With a down- Wardly direeted stop 35 co-operating' with the frame 1, and a cam surface which cooperates with a. pawl 37, located on a shaft 38 in the frame 1. Each of the pawls 3.7 has a spring' 89 which normally presses it forwardly so that the other end thereof carryin, v a catch 40 .may be in eur'agei'nent with a. square rccess or notch lS-l, in a not'fh wheel 49. Each of the notch Wheels 4-2 is located on and secured to a sleere e'tcnsion 113 on a counter wheel -t-l, and het-neon the notch wheel 42 and the counter wheel l-lz there is a gear meshing with the corresponding' idler `gear Jr plurality of such number Wheels are provided for the different columns of figures to utilized, number Wheels 4:6. 47, 4:8. 49. 50, 51, 52, 54, being provided respectively to indicate the places beginning from the units of cents to the millions of dollars. It will be understood, of course` however, that. these columns may be user to count numbers Without the decimals, in which case the columns will Dermit the eountinp' of the hundreds of millions. The several counting` Wheels e4- and attac'hed parts are carried by a shaft 5G supported in bearinps 57 and on the frame l.. .said shaft having` hand wheel 59 for resetting' the same. All of the number Wheels 47 Iand 541: are loose on said shaft but the number Wheel 4G is tight on the same. Each of the number Wheels ile is furthermore. provided on the side opposite to that on which the gear is located, With a hollow 'drum 60 having' a plurality of V -sha pe'jl inwardly direeted notches (31 in its inner face, which are arranged to co-operate with a spring 62 so as to convey movement from one number wheel to the adiacent number Wheel when this is permitted by the position of the pawls 37. On the outside of each of said drums G0 there is. furthermore. provided a cam surface G2 Fig'. which is arrang'ed to co-operate withand withdraw the pawl 37 from enz'agement with the surface of the number Wheel in the adjacent column to the left so as to cause the rotation of said number wheel a distance equal to one number upon each coinplete revolution of the number Wheel to which the cam 621 is attached.

From the parts which l have thus far described, it Will be seen that When countinz in a particular column it is nierely neccssi ry to depress the column key correspondingg` to the column in which the coiintin); is being-3; done, and thereafter press in succession anv one or more of the numeral lreys G, while adding in said column. lin order to enable the i-:ountinn' to be thus vcontinuousl)v carried out in 'the particular column z'tfterpressing a column key. each of said column key lcvcrs 31 provided With a. catch (33 which is arranged tobe caun'ht when depressed beneath plate (ist, carried lupon pivoted arms (35 by a` shaft (SG in the frame l. a spring GT being,` provided on one of the arms 65 so as to normally move the plate G-'r towards the of the machine. rilhis arran'rg'ement is such that When anyone of the column keys 38 is depressed any other column hey previousl)Y engzaged Will lie released and the column key being depresscxl Will thereupoa itf-'clf become eng'a, ed by the plate (li.

l`he adding);v machine is so arrai'igifed that il: may be used either for column adding or progressive adding. liy column adding' meantthe adding of a pluralityv of izures located in a single column and thcrcafter adding the tin'ures located in succeeding columns from the left to the right. and by projressive adding, the adding); of a pluralitiv of ngures of large denomination, as for example. the igures on a series of bank checlqs, by registerin` on the machine the amount of a particular check beginning' With the figure located at the left of the same and rc, jistering the other ligures successively to the right thereof and then thereafter rcgsteriim` the amount of the next checl: in a similar inauner. The parts thus far describor, without any further features, are suliicient for the purpose of column adding. ln order to enable progressive adding to be accomplished, I provide means for beginning the regist-ration of a particular amount by pressing;` the column key oorresponding to the column in which the figure farthest to the left is located, and then devices which will. upon thepressing of each succeeding nu'ncral .li-gey release that particular column ltcy and depress the next column key to the right thereof. For this purpose provide on the shaft 82 a plurality right angjle arms (58 having,v Springs G9 around the shzift to uorinally hold said arms GS iu the upper position. These arms G8 on the lower ends are provided With a shaft 'T0 having' a segmental hand- .vheel 7.1. at its outer end carrying the letter P at one end of the segmental wheel and the letter' C at the other end thercof. The purpose of these two letters is tosee that when the hand-wheel Tl has the letter P uppermost, it ,is in a position indicatinpy that the machine is ready for in'ogressive adding, and when the letter C uppermost, the machine is in a position for column adding. rllhe movement. of this Wheel 'T1 determines the position of a pluralitiv of projections 7:2, located on the shaft 'T0 which regrister with the number levers 5. Then the are in eng'agement With the projections 72 levers 5. thev Jrevent the ene'ae'ement of v L4 Z? pawls 73 located on the shaft 70 with projections 74 located on the under surfaces of the columnlevers 31, and when the projections are in the other osition, such engagement is permitted. Vires 75 connect the pawls 7 3 vrespectively with the pawls 37 which are located in the columns to the left of the columns in Which the pawls 73 are located. y

In the operation of my invention, it being assumed the machine is in osition for column adding, that-is to say, t at the segmental hand-wheel 71 arranged with the letter C uppermost, it will be supposed that the z person using themachine wishes to add together a column of figures. In adding this column the units of the figures will be added w one after another and thereafter the tens and movement of the hundreds, etc. Before beginning the addition, the column key 33 corresponding to -the unitsis depressed and is retainedfin depressed position by the catch 63 thereon engaged with the plate 64. The numbers in the units column are then registered one after another by pressing one after another the ynumber keys themselves corresponding to the same. The movement of a number key produces a corresponding degree of movement in the lever 16 which transmits its movement to the sliding bar 19 and by means of the rack 20 to the loose gear 22, which in turn transmits its movement through the pawl 26 to the shaft23, the gears 27', idler gear 29 located in the units place, and the gear attached to the number'whee1-46. When the number wheel 46 has made a complete revolution the cam surface 62'1 will engage with the adjacent pawl 37, thereby moving the catch 40 out of the notch in the notch wheel 42, so that the spring 62 on the number wheel 47, engaging with one of the V-shaped notches 61, will move the number wheel 47 a distance from 0 to l. As the cam surface 62a passes beyond the pawl 37, the said pawl falls into one of'the notches in the wheel 42, thereby preventing the further movement of the number wheel 47 until a further revolution of the number wheel 46 has taken place. VVhen all of the numbers in units place have been added together in this way, the column key 38, corresponding to the tens is depressed. A depression of this key releases the column key in units place because of the plate 64 from over the catch 63 attached to the column key in units place. At the same time. the depression of the column key in tens place causes 'it to be retained in depressed position because of the engageinent of its catch 63 with the plate 64. In this manner the columns are added up one after another until the entire column of figures has been added together and the total iszthen read off through the window 3. In case in the numbers in the column added, one

`corresponding to this column.

of the columns contains only zeros, the column key for that column is not pressed, butv the column key corresponding to the next column to the left is pressed.

When it is desired to do progressive adding, the -segmental hand-wheel 71 is rotated so as to bring the letter P uppermost. Assuming now that there are a plurality of amounts to be added together, as for example, the amounts of a. pluralty of bank checks, and that these' amounts are to be registered in succession on the adding machine, and that the numbers in a particular amount are to be registered by register-img first the number farthest to the left, and thereafter in succession the numbers to the right of said number, the column key is pressed which corresponds to the figure farthest to the left. This causes said column key to engage with the plate 64 so as to be retained in depressed position, and, at the same time, to move the pawl 37 towards the back of the machine, which, through the wire 75, moves the pawl 73, corresponding to the column immediately to the right of the column in which the said pawl 37 is located, in the same direction so that it overlies the flange 74 located upon the column key 33, immediately to the right of the column key that has been depressed. The number key corresponding to the number in this particular column is now depressed, which on ,its initial downward movement registers the number on the number wheel The downward movement of the number key, through the engagement of the lever 5 with the projection 72, also causes the pawls 73 to be depressed so that the particular pawl 78, which overlies the projection 74 on the column lever 31 next to the right of the column lever which has been previously depressed, is itself depressed, thereby releasing the previously depressed column lever and causing it to be returned to its initial position, but retaining depressed the column lever which has been depressed by the pawl 73. The other columns in succession to the right of the original column registered are thus taken care of in succession until the entire amount has been registered. The next amount, as for example, on'the next bank check, is then registered in a similar manner by depressing the column key corresponding to the number farthest to the left in said. amount and proceeding as before. In case in any of the amounts there is a zero, no number key is pressed to register this zero, but before registering the next number to the right it is merely necessary to depress the column key corresponding to said number, after which the operator may proceed as before 'and the same as if there had been no zero present.

lliile I have described invention puted by the depression of the number key and releasing the previously depressed column key.

16. An adding machine having means for adding progressively by registering one amount after another independently of the manipulation of` any lever between succeeding columns, comprising a plurality of column keys, a. plurality of number keys, and means for depressing the column key of the column next to be computed by the depres sion of the number key and releasing the previously depressed column key.

17. An adding machine having means for adding progressively by registering one amount after another, comprising a plurality of column keys, a plurality of number keys, means for depressing the column key of the column next to be computed by the depression of the number key and releasing the previously depressed column key, and means for adding in columns.

18. An adding machine having means for adding progressively. by registering one amount after another, means for adding in columns independently of the manipulation of any lever between succeeding columns, comprising a plurality of column keys, a plurality of number keys, and means for depressing the column key of the column next to be computed by the depression of the number key'and releasing the previously depressed column key.

19. An adding machine having means for adding progressively by registering one amount after another, comprising a plurality of column keys, a plurality of number keys, means for depressing the column key of the column next to be computed by the depression of the number key and releasing the previously depressed column key, means for adding in columns,'and a device for adjusting the machine for adding in columns or V progressively.

20. An adding machine having means for adding progressively by registering one amount after another, means for adding in columns independently of the manipulation of any lever between succeeding columns, comprising a plurality of column keys, a plurality of number keys, means for depress ing the column key of the column next to be computed by the depression of the number key and releasing the previously depressed column key, and a device for adjusting the machine for adding in columns or progressively.

21. An adding machine having a plurality of number keys, a plurality of column keys, a plurality of number Wheels, paWls for the number Wheels, paWls for the column keys connected to the pawls for the number Wheels, projections on the column keys, co Operating With the column key paWls, and a common connect-mg means for the column key pawls adapted to be operated by the number keys.

22. An adding machine having a plurality of number keys, a plurality of column keys, a plurality of number Wheels, pawls for the number Wheels, paWls for the column keys connected to the paWls for the number Wheels, projections on the column keys, co- Operating With the column key pawls, and a common connecting means for the column key paWls adapted to be operated by the number keys, comprising a shaft With rotary projections.

28. An adding machine having a plurality of number keys, a plurality of column keys, a plurality of number Wheels, paWls for the number Wheels, paWls for the column keys connected to the paWls for the number Wheels, projections on the column keys, co-

Operating With the column key paWls, ai

common connecting means for the column key paWls adapted to be operated by the number keys, comprising a shaft With rotary projections, and a hand-Wheel With indicating means attached to said shaft.

24. An adding machine comprising a plurality of number keys, an intermediate shaft actuated thereby, a plurality of counter Wheels, gears on said shaft and Wheels, idlers for connecting the shaft and Wheel gears, and column keys supporting said. idlers, movable to throW the same into and out of operative position.

25. An adding machine comprising a plurality of number keys, an intermediate shaft actuated thereby, a plurality of counter- Wheels, paWls normally holding said Wheels from rotation, and column keys carrying means for connecting a set of shaft and Wheel gears and for moving an adjacent paWl out of operative position.

26. An adding machine comprising a plurality of number keys, an intermediate shaft actuated thereby a plurality of counter- Wheels, paWls normally holding said Wheels from rotation, gears on said shaft and Wheels, idlers, and column keys supporting said idlers movable to throW the same into and out of operative position, said column keys having a cam surface for moving an adj acent paWl out of operative position When the column key is depressed.

27. An adding machine comprising a plu' rality of number keys, an intermediate shaft actuated thereby, gears on said shaft and Wheels, idlers for' connecting the shaft and Wheel gears, and column keys supporting saidiidlers movable to throW the same into and out of operative position, and a connecting means between said keys, Whereby the manipulation of a number key in one column Willv depress the column key of the column next to the right thereof.

28. An adding machine comprising aplurality of number keys, an intermediate shaft uetueted. thez'eby, gears ony said ehaft and Wheels., idlel's :tor connecting` the shefft, and wl'xeel gee'ns, und' column keys suppmtng Saul idlexs moveble to thl'ow the Same into andzout of operetiye position, and-a` connecting'memvF-z between; Said keys, Whereby the n' ,nipuluton of a: munber key: Will: rendel` inepei'utye column key and render opex'utive the v of an adjneent column.

f in nehine eomprsing" w plukeys, an ntermed ete` shafft ther'eny :11 plu'ralty of: eounten Wheels, W on said slmft end wheelsyidlers :ton conneetu'g, the Shaffn and `wheel gears, and (folm'z'in keys eupnortl'lg said idlers'm'ovable to tluow the same; into :nut out ofi operaftve position, :z pluralty of .moyatble pnwlezulupted 'to doprese the column keys end noln'lly held mvey therefnom, and meune Whe-Yebythe depl'eesionl o'l one column key Will move: the pawl o'l'?` an adjacent eolumn key into position to engage therewjth.

30. An adding machine comprising-eU pluralty of numbel.`v keys, an intermediate shul'ft aetuated.: theleby, :1 plunelty of. counter whee ls, gea1's on said shnft andwheels, dlel's tor connectng the sheft and Wheel gears, and. column keys. supportng said dlers, movable to'throw. the sameJ into and out of operat--Ve' p0ston, az plnr'alty of mmfzlble Pawle adnpted to depreseJ` the column keys and nonmally held away trherefnom and; disengageable, means WherebyV the depression of one; column= key Will: moveV the' p-Wl of 2111 adjaeent column key into position to'engusge therewith.

Ilu testimony that I claim the' tl'oregoirlg I have' helreunto set: my' hand:

H UBERI? MEHEDlflll-JJ NES. 

